# Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 37 events were contested in athletics. There were a total number of 1005 participating athletes from 80 countries.
The men's 50 kilometres walk competition was dropped from the Olympic athletics programme, despite its constant presence at the games since 1932. The IAAF chose to host its own world championship event instead, a month and a half after the Olympics. This foreshadowed the creation of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the following years.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Hasely Crawford Trinidad and Tobago | 10.06 | Don Quarrie Jamaica | 10.08 | Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union | 10.14 |
| 200 metres details | Don Quarrie Jamaica | 20.23 | Millard Hampton United States | 20.29 | Dwayne Evans United States | 20.43 |
| 400 metres details | Alberto Juantorena Cuba | 44.26 | Fred Newhouse United States | 44.40 | Herman Frazier United States | 44.95 |
| 800 metres details | Alberto Juantorena Cuba | 1:43.50 WR | Ivo Van Damme Belgium | 1:43.86 | Rick Wohlhuter United States | 1:44.12 |
| 1500 metres details | John Walker New Zealand | 3:39.17 | Ivo Van Damme Belgium | 3:39.27 | Paul-Heinz Wellmann West Germany | 3:39.33 |
| 5000 metres details | Lasse Virén Finland | 13:24.76 | Dick Quax New Zealand | 13:25.16 | Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand West Germany | 13:25.38 |
| 10,000 metres details | Lasse Virén Finland | 27:40.38 | Carlos Lopes Portugal | 27:45:17 | Brendan Foster Great Britain | 27:54.92 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Guy Drut France | 13.30 | Alejandro Casañas Cuba | 13.33 | Willie Davenport United States | 13.38 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Edwin Moses United States | 47.64 WR | Michael Shine United States | 48.69 | Yevgeniy Gavrilenko Soviet Union | 49.45 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Anders Gärderud Sweden | 8:08.02 WR | Bronisław Malinowski Poland | 8:09.11 | Frank Baumgartl East Germany | 8:10.36 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Harvey Glance Johnny Jones Millard Hampton Steve Riddick | 38.33 | East Germany (GDR) Manfred Kokot Jörg Pfeifer Klaus-Dieter Kurrat Alexander Thieme | 38.66 | Soviet Union (URS) Aleksandr Aksinin Nikolay Kolesnikov Juris Silovs Valeriy Borzov | 38.78 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Herman Frazier Benny Brown Fred Newhouse Maxie Parks | 2:58.65 | Poland (POL) Ryszard Podlas Jan Werner Zbigniew Jaremski Jerzy Pietrzyk | 3:01.43 | West Germany (FRG) Franz-Peter Hofmeister Lothar Krieg Harald Schmid Bernd Herrmann | 3:01.98 |
| Marathon details | Waldemar Cierpinski East Germany | 2:09:55.0 OR | Frank Shorter United States | 2:10:45.8 | Karel Lismont Belgium | 2:11:12.6 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Daniel Bautista Mexico | 1:24:40.6 OR | Hans-Georg Reimann East Germany | 1:25:13.6 | Peter Frenkel East Germany | 1:25:29.4 |
| High jump details | Jacek Wszoła Poland | 2.25 m WR | Greg Joy Canada | 2.23 m | Dwight Stones United States | 2.21 m |
| Pole vault details | Tadeusz Ślusarski Poland | 5.50 m | Antti Kalliomäki Finland | 5.50 m | David Roberts United States | 5.50 m |
| Long jump details | Arnie Robinson United States | 8.35 m | Randy Williams United States | 8.11 m | Frank Wartenberg East Germany | 8.02 m |
| Triple jump details | Viktor Saneyev Soviet Union | 17.29 m | James Butts United States | 17.18 m | João Carlos de Oliveira Brazil | 16.90 m |
| Shot put details | Udo Beyer East Germany | 21.05 m | Yevgeny Mironov Soviet Union | 21.03 m | Aleksandr Baryshnikov Soviet Union | 21.00 m |
| Discus throw details | Mac Wilkins United States | 67.50 m | Wolfgang Schmidt East Germany | 66.22 m | John Powell United States | 65.70 m |
| Hammer throw details | Yuriy Sedykh Soviet Union | 77.52 m OR | Aleksey Spiridonov Soviet Union | 76.08 m | Anatoliy Bondarchuk Soviet Union | 75.48 m |
| Javelin throw details | Miklós Németh Hungary | 94.58 WR | Hannu Siitonen Finland | 87.92 | Gheorghe Megelea Romania | 87.16 m |
| Decathlon details | Bruce Jenner United States | 8618 WR | Guido Kratschmer West Germany | 8411 | Mykola Avilov Soviet Union | 8369 |

### Women

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Annegret Richter West Germany | 11.08 | Renate Stecher East Germany | 11.13 | Inge Helten West Germany | 11.17 |
| 200 metres details | Bärbel Eckert East Germany | 22.37 OR | Annegret Richter West Germany | 22.39 | Renate Stecher East Germany | 22.47 |
| 400 metres details | Irena Szewińska Poland | 49.28 WR | Christina Brehmer East Germany | 50.51 | Ellen Streidt East Germany | 50.55 |
| 800 metres details | Tatyana Kazankina Soviet Union | 1:54.94 WR | Nikolina Shtereva Bulgaria | 1:55.42 | Elfi Zinn East Germany | 1:55.60 |
| 1500 metres details | Tatyana Kazankina Soviet Union | 4:05.48 | Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany | 4:06.02 | Ulrike Klapezynski East Germany | 4:06.09 |
| 100 metres hurdles details | Johanna Schaller East Germany | 12.77 | Tatyana Anisimova Soviet Union | 12.78 | Natalya Lebedeva Soviet Union | 12.80 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | East Germany (GDR) Marlies Oelsner Renate Stecher Carla Bodendorf Bärbel Eckert | 42.55 OR | West Germany (FRG) Elvira Possekel Inge Helten Annegret Richter Annegret Kroniger | 42.59 | Soviet Union (URS) Tatyana Prorochenko Lyudmila Maslakova Nadezhda Besfamilnaya Vera Anisimova | 43.09 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | East Germany (GDR) Doris Maletzki Brigitte Rohde Ellen Streidt Christina Brehmer | 3:19.23 WR | United States (USA) Debra Sapenter Sheila Ingram Pamela Jiles Rosalyn Bryant | 3:22.81 | Soviet Union (URS) Inta Kļimoviča Lyudmila Aksyonova Natalya Sokolova Nadezhda Ilyina | 3:24.24 |
| High jump details | Rosemarie Ackermann East Germany | 1.93 m OR | Sara Simeoni Italy | 1.91 m | Yordanka Blagoeva Bulgaria | 1.91 m |
| Long jump details | Angela Voigt East Germany | 6.72 m | Kathy McMillan United States | 6.66 m | Lidiya Alfeyeva Soviet Union | 6.60 m |
| Shot put details | Ivanka Khristova Bulgaria | 21.16 m OR | Nadezhda Chizhova Soviet Union | 20.96 m | Helena Fibingerová Czechoslovakia | 20.67 m |
| Discus throw details | Evelin Schlaak East Germany | 69.00 m OR | Mariya Vergova Bulgaria | 67.30 m | Gabriele Hinzmann East Germany | 66.84 m |
| Javelin throw details | Ruth Fuchs East Germany | 65.94 m OR | Marion Becker West Germany | 64.70 m | Kate Schmidt United States | 63.96 m |
| Pentathlon details | Siegrun Siegl East Germany | 4745 | Christine Laser East Germany | 4745 | Burglinde Pollak East Germany | 4740 |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 11 | 7 | 9 | 27 |
| 2 | United States (USA) | 6 | 8 | 8 | 22 |
| 3 | Soviet Union (URS) | 4 | 4 | 10 | 18 |
| 4 | Poland (POL) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | Finland (FIN) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | Cuba (CUB) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | West Germany (FRG) | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 8 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Jamaica (JAM) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | New Zealand (NZL) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | France (FRA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Mexico (MEX) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Portugal (POR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Romania (ROU) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (23 entries) | Totals (23 entries) | 37 | 37 | 37 | 111 |